It’s a while until my O2 broadband contract expires but, none-the-less, after all the issues I’ve had with them I’ll be keen to move on. It’s therefore worthwhile keeping an eye on the state of the market in the meantime.

As I now have both cable and FTTC available to me it would seem churlish to not make use of it. Having said that, a quick broadband speed test still shows that I’m getting around 12Mb downloads on my ADSL+ line.

So, here’s what I’ve found. All represent broadband, line rental and free calls for evening and weekends. They are all 18 month contracts too.

BT Infinity. 40Mb downloads. Total cost is £28 pm with a £25 connection fee.

Plusnet. 40Mb downloads. Total cost is £29.48 pm with a £4.99 fee for sending you your router!

Virgin Media. 30Mb downloads (the speed is due to double in my area sometime after October). Total cost is £37 pm.

Of course, it’s never that straight forward. All of these either have limitations on their service (e.g. “traffic shaping” or download limits) and/or appalling customer service.

Maybe it’s a case of “better the devil you know” – I am, at least, well versed in the ways of their customer services departments.

So how does all of this compare, price wise, to O2? It’s difficult to say as they appear reluctant to give straight pricing on their website (they give totals but include special offers, which I’m attempting to exclude from these quoted prices). It shows £16.25 pm, but this includes my £5 for having an O2 phone plus various current offers. At least you get truly unlimited downloads.

Needless to say, O2 is still a lot cheaper than the current fibre options. It’s such a shame the O2 don’t offer fibre broadband and don’t appear to making noises that they will.